New (or future) tech that comics foresaw

[El_Varaco]

Saw this thread on Reddit and thought I'd pose the question to more educated geeks.

What I've seen so far is Jack Kirby envisioning the smartphone as The Mother Box
The Future Part 2 – The Mother Box | Kirby Dynamics

Minecraft was from a Donald Duck cartoon
5 Important Things You Won't Believe Comic Books Invented | Cracked.com

Police ankle bracelets

were also foreseen by the Kingpin in Spider-Man

(spider-man ankle/wrist bracelet also in the cracked article)

are there more?

 

[Leigh]

Ironman is being implemented somewhat as exoskeletons are becoming more advanced.

Wrist watch video communicators that were in many comics are now available (I have one).

Solid state recording devices, such as the crystals in Superman 1, are now the norm.

Jetpacks.

Space travel.

Satellite spying.

I'll try to think of some more

 

[Stickgrappler]

Re: watches... think the earliest comics example is Dick Tracy

I have 2 cool ones, well I think they are cool

EBAY
My memory is foggy on appearance of this ... 1st "Shatter" story appeared as a backup story in Jon Sable, Freelance or perhaps the first issue of Shatter when it had its own series

Protagonist Shatter checks his computer for an online auction he's in ... predates Ebay by approx 10 years

He was bidding on ...

Which leads to the 2nd...

Original Coca Cola ... he was bidding on some

HOWEVER, checking wiki the comic may not have predated the actual new coke... have tpb in storage in which writer Peter Gillis mentions these 2 items

 

[Stickgrappler]

Google and found:

"The coolest part of Shatter, like all good speculative fiction, is seeing how wrong or how right the creators were at guessing what the future's brought us in the twenty-odd years since. Old Coke being better than New Coke? Check. Constant advertising anywhere and everywhere? Check. Maybe the cool RNA stuff didn't pan out, but that's ok, I like the thought of my head being safer on top of my neck. And cryogenics are still around, anyway. What about some of the subtler analogues, like ATM cards and being able to jack into a centralized network to bid on desired items? I mean, that's nothing like hopping onto the wireless network at a Starbucks and sending a few bucks through PayPal for sealed bottles of Jones Cola on eBay, right?

"Hot damn, maybe they were onto something, these guys.”


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